Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird #12)(51)

He raised an eyebrow and his cheeks reddened. “Hey,” he said. He looked me over, head to foot and back, and cocked a brow. “You okay? Get caught in the rain?”

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “I didn't know you worked here.”

“New job,” he said. “The phone store fired me after I was late one time. It's too hard to get downtown through traffic sometimes.”

“Oh,” I said. “Yeah.” Awkwardly, I paused and didn’t know what else to say. My mind rushed with what had just happened. The last time I'd run into him, he showed me how to break into lockers at school. I couldn't imagine what he thought of me wearing all black and soaked and holding a basket with bananas at this hour.

Suddenly, the phone I'd put in my bag rang. I jolted in front of him, too stunned that anyone would call me back on it. What did it mean that someone was?

I juggled the basket in my arm to be able to take the bookbag off. Wil reached out to help, taking the basket from me.

I hesitated but then let him do so. But then I realized it meant I couldn't really talk openly to the person on the other end. It didn't matter. I had to answer. It might be the guys trying to find me.

I dug out the cell phone, opened it and held it to my ear. “Yes?”

“I told you to get away from them,” a crackled, mechanical voice sounded on the other end.

I looked right at Wil's face, too stunned to hide my expression. I said nothing, fearing anything I said would lead me into a trap of Volto's making.

“Something wrong?” Wil whispered to me.

“They're on to you,” Volto said in my ear.

I slowly shook my head at Wil and then took back my basket after placing the bookbag on my shoulder again. I kept the phone to my ear and gave him a soft wave, indicating I had to go. Still, I said nothing to Volto. I debated hanging up on him.

“I wouldn't go to school tomorrow if I were you.”

I turned down a new aisle, and when I was sure no one was listening, I whispered into the phone. “Don't hurt anyone.”

“I've never hurt anyone.”

“You gave us strep throat,” I said. “And you rigged a football game to smoke out the stadium. That was reckless. Dangerous.” I turned, facing a wall of baby food but unable to stop myself rattling off to him. “You told me once the guys were dangerous. Yet you've done far more stupid things that could have killed someone.”

“You don't know what they're doing to you,” he said.

“I'm not listening to someone who would go that far to prove some point you haven't made yet. What is it? You want to smoke them out? They've never hid their faces. They've always been in plain sight. You're the one hiding. Because you know what you're doing is wrong.”

Silence on the other end. I wasn't totally being honest about the guys. There were times when they were doing dangerous things, and I didn't always know the end result, but it never involved harming other people. All the danger was on them, not others. Despite the couple of times that it seemed like Volto thought he was protecting me, and perhaps he was, it didn't excuse all the other things he did.

I'd once questioned the Academy and its purpose, but when I compared Volto to what the Academy did, the difference was very clear.

Eventually, Volto's voice returned. “I want to talk to you. In person.”

“I think you've done enough,” I said. “Return the Jeep.”

“I'll bring it back when you talk to me.”

I considered it for a moment, but Volto had a way of leading me down trails that ended up putting me or the others in more danger. I didn't want to do this now.

So instead of answering, I hung up, folding the flip. I kept it in my palm, looking at it.

When my heart had slowed a little, I opened it again, hoping that the act put me back in touch with the girl.

I put the phone to my ear and listened.

It was silent at first, but the mechanical voice came back.

“I'm coming to get you,” he said.

I hung up again, my heart in my throat. I couldn't reach out to the Academy. He'd cut off the one connection I had. If someone was coming to get me, Volto could interfere once they arrived.

What now?





How to Shake a Tail




Nathan

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Nathan continued to follow North's Jeep through neighborhoods. He sent word once about making a circle through a neighborhood but still being on Volto's tail to Mr. Blackbourne, but he didn't get word back.

If he didn't respond, it was more than likely because something else was going on, and he didn't want Nathan to alter his course.

With no other indication he should do otherwise, he remained not far behind the Jeep. He adjusted how he was sitting, the leather of the seat squeaking as his pants slid against the material. The air was a little cold, but it kept him aware and focused.

After a while of following, the clouds above finally broke. Rain came down in a drizzle, and eventually Nathan had to start the windshield wipers.

“Come on,” he said. “Park it somewhere. Do something.”

As if Volto had heard him, the car suddenly picked up speed, turning at the end of a cul-de-sac and heading out of the neighborhood. He took the main road, opposite the school.